A quick blast !

[sparky40]

Please can you give me your opinions on the following, as I am getting all stressed out here !
I have been given a job to do where I am picking up from another DISQ sparks, however , he has moved on, and I am trying to do a good job as you do, to get along with this new to me building firm.
He has doubled up circuits into breakers, although they are not going to cause an overload under present circ's. how did he manage to test the circuit's' ? descrimination ?
There are no spare ways for another mcb so maybe the customer didn't want to pay out for a new C/U ?

My main question, sorry, is, he has fitted these 12v downlighters all around the house,( the self contained burner type!), cannister with a scolding hot lamp, I have never used these before but 2 months since he left and all the lampholders are all wasted, some lamps can nearly drop out as there is no circlip to retain them. Anybody else had this problem ??


Thanks for your help, and, or, time.

 

[fireman22]

what do you want to know

 

[sparky40]

Sorry,
I just wanted to know if it is 'acceptable' although bad practice, to double up circ;s on a mcb ?
And I was wondering if any other sparks had encountered the same problems with these downlighters ?

 

[didthathurt]

It is allowed to do so when installing radial ccts, AFAIK, as all you are effectively doing is creating a star pattern radial. Is this what the previous spark has done here?

Oh, and to edit, yes I have had this problem with the circlips, which normally go missing when the lamp is changed and they're not refitted correctly, fall out and disappear (or the owner can't get them to stay in properly so doesn't bother with them).

 

[RF Lighting]

The new(ish) fire can type down lighters don't seem to have circlips on them, and rely on the lamp holder to hold the lamp in place.

Are the fittings fitted with dichroic lamps instead of aluminium lamps?

 

[plugwash]

doubling up is not dangerous but doing it without a good reason (such as no space availible or new breakers unavailible) is imo violating the discrimination regs (which iirc say that reasonable steps should be taken to minimise inconvinace from a fault, doubling up when adding more breakers is reasonable goes against this imo).

of course the discrimination regs are very open to interpretation, you could interpret them to mean that every socket should be on its own circuit and rcds as close to the point of use as possible. Split load boards certainly make a mockery of them!

 

[sparky40]

Cheers for the reply,
He has starred the power circs but left them on a 32a mcb, should be a 16a i think !

These 12v fittings dont come with a circlip, there is a small clip that is supposed to clasp the base of the lamp. I was going to get the same fittings on my new install's when i saw them in the brouchure, no hoods etc, but not now. Be warned ! They're pants !

 

[didthathurt]

He has starred the power circs but left them on a 32a mcb, should be a 16a i think !

If it's 2.5mm T+E as a radial, max MCB rating should be 20Amps.

 

[plugwash]

on the other hand if its just one socket on each run then its really no worse than ring spurs. Unconventional yes but i'd hardly call it dangerous.

if there are multiple sockets on each run then i'd certainly wan't to see the breaker reduced and if nessacery the circuits split onto more breakers.